


Nobody said it would be easy

by DestielIsFuckinReal



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Baby Castiel (Supernatural), Brotherly Love, Brothers, Fledgling Castiel, Gen, Growing Up, Guardian Gabriel, Heaven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-04 08:48:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10987470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DestielIsFuckinReal/pseuds/DestielIsFuckinReal
Summary: A little story set long before Dean's demonic deal and the whole Apocalypse thing, when the only problem was, at least for Gabriel, how to raise a fledgling curious about everything and fascinated in humans as much as he is in bees.In loving memory of our beloved Gabriel and Castiel (that I refuse to believe they're dead because one, it's Supernatural, and two, Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows in Meta fiction when Cas asked him if he was really dead and Jarpad let it slip that Cas will be back, -thank you Jarpad, you saved a fandom and by fandom I mean me-)





	Nobody said it would be easy

Gabriel finds Joshua taking care of the roses in the Garden. The moment he appears, the Gardener raises his eyes, takes the basket next to him and approaches the Archangel. He doesn't say anything, just gives the basket to Gabriel, who takes it.

Gabriel looks down, there's a sleeping baby wrapped in a blanket in it, black hair and round red cheeks. He smiles softly, the baby is so cute.

«Who's the lucky one this time?» he asks, not looking up.

«You» Joshua answers and Gabriel looks up so fast it would have made him dizzy if he was a human.

«Me?» he says incredulous, «That must be a joke, I'm the Trickster here, Joshua»

Joshua just shakes his head no. «Our Father was very clear about this, he wants you to raise this one»

«But what if I do it wrong? What if I hurt him? What if I fail our Father?»

«Father knows you'll do great» Joshua smiles a little.

Gabriel looks down again at the little Angel in the basket and takes him in his arms. Only then he notices his little wings, they're still white but they'll take color when he grows up. The fledgling yawns and then he blinks his eyes open, staring at Gabriel with big blue orbs. The Archangel boops his nose and the Angel giggles, making the older one smile.

«What day is it on Earth now?» he asks, without looking away from the little creature.

«Thursday» Joshua answers after few seconds, seemingly confused.

«Well then, today Heaven welcomes Castiel, Angel of Thursday»

«Castiel» Joshua repeats at the same moment Castiel grabs Gabriel's finger and puts it in his mouth, like a pacifier.

«I will do my best» Gabriel says, more to the little Angel than to Joshua. «I promise»

~~~~~~~~~~

At what on Earth is ten months old, Castiel learns how to walk on his two feet.

Gabriel and Castiel are on a field, one of the many fields of Heaven, with the Archangel crouched and Castiel some feet in front of him, slowly standing up. The little Angel does this thing that when he's about to lose balance, he flaps his wings and Gabriel finds it utterly adorable, it makes him laugh and Castiel looks at him with pink puffed cheeks and fire in his blue eyes. When he'll know how to use his Grace, Gabriel will feel the consequences.

«Come on, Cassie, come to Gabe» the Archangel says, his arms open for the little Angel to walk into.

Castiel looks uncertain for a moment, then he slowly steps ahead, wobbles a little and flaps his wings to regain balance. Gabriel waits patiently for his baby brother to walk into his arms, and when Castiel hugs his neck, Gabriel takes him into his arms and stands up.

«It wasn't too difficult, was it Cassie?»

The little Angel shakes his head no and hides his face in Gabriel's neck, who laughs fondly. «I guess you'll have a reward, munchkin»

«'ney» Castiel says, voice muffled by Gabriel's feathers.

«Yeah, let's go get you some honey»

~~~~~~~~~~

At what on Earth is two years old, Castiel learns how to fly.

They're in the same field where Castiel walked for the first time because the little Angel loves the flowers there and loves watching the bees pollinating them. Gabriel is laying on his stomach, writing a report of his last delivery, when he hears a «Gab, look!» and looks up. What he finds in front of him is a bundle of white feathers and blue eyes floating few centimeters above the ground.

The Archangel smiles and stands up, «I'm proud of you Cassie» and the little Angel giggles again.

«Can you fly to me?»

«How?» says Castiel, tilting his head to the side.

«It's like walking, only instead of your legs, you move your wings» he flaps his wings a little, «like this»

Castiel takes a breath and starts flapping his wings, effectively moving forward to Gabriel's open arms. When he is close enough to the Archangel, Gabriel envelops him in his wings and arms.

«Good job, munchkin» the older Angel says and boops his nose, making Castiel laugh, like every time.

«Wanna do a game?»

«What game?»

«Chasing» Gabriel says and flies away before Castiel can answer.

The little Angel flaps his wings excitedly and flies after his brother. A couple of minutes later Gabriel feels little hands on his lower pair of wings making him lose balance and falls on the grass. Some seconds later Castiel is crawling on him to his neck, where he sits, his little hands on Gabriel's light brown hair.

«You're pretty fast for someone who learned how to fly just five minutes ago» he says, turning his head a little to look at Castiel.

«I am!» the blue eyed Angel says, flapping his wings proudly.

«Castiel, Angel of Thursday, Speed of God» Gabriel chuckles and lays Castiel on the grass. The little shit has a smug smile on his face and Gabriel knows too well how to remove it. Tickle the shit out of Castiel.

Gabriel is pretty sure all Heaven benefits of Castiel's happy laugh when he sees the first flowers bloom not by Joshua's hand since basically forever.

~~~~~~~~~~

At what on Earth is 11 years old, Gabriel finds Castiel sitting under a tree, his legs crossed, and his eyes focused on his left wing. When Gabriel approaches him, he notices that Castiel is coloring it.

«Cassie, what are you doing?» Gabriel says, moving Castiel's hand away from his wing. There's a splash of yellow on some feathers.

Castiel looks everywhere but Gabriel. «My wings are white»

«Yeah, I can see that smarty pants»

«No!» Castiel says and looks at Gabriel, «It's not right, I still have white wings, Naomi and Bartholomew said that it's not a good thing, they said that I'm not a real Angel!»

Gabriel sighs and sits next to his brother. He takes Castiel's wing and starts petting it and the young Angel leans into the touch.

«Don't listen to them, you'll change color after your first molt. You'll lose those feathers and you'll grow new ones, more colorful»

«When will that happen?»

«Not too late I think»

Castiel hums in response and lays on Gabriel's legs, closing his eyes as the Archangel pets his wings.

After few moments of silence, Gabriel asks, «Why did you choose yellow, by the way?»

«Because your wings are» Castiel answers, and he sounds almost sleepy, «and I like your wings»

Gabriel smiles fondly. «I bet yours will be more beautiful than mine one day» he says.

Few months later, Castiel experiences his first molt. It hurts, Gabriel knows it, and he tries to ease the pain for his brother as much as he can. A week later Castiel has new feathers, stronger than the old ones and of a wonderful light blue color.

~~~~~~~~~~

At what on Earth is 17 years old, Gabriel disappears. He simply can't keep up with all the drama Lucifer and Michael put on, so he decides to bail and go on Earth, Balthazar said it's a good place to live in peace. He wanted to bring Castiel with him, but at his age it's forbidden to leave Heaven. It breaks his heart, but he needs to do it or he's gonna go crazy. He doesn't say anything to Castiel.

Few days later, Castiel is called to join the academy to learn how to fight and how to become a good soldier. The void Castiel felt in his chest when Gabriel left is replaced by strict obedience.

_We must follow orders, we don't need weaknesses. Good soldiers don't have weaknesses._

~~~~~~~~~~

At what on Earth is 35 years old, Gabriel sees Castiel again. He's pranking Sam and Dean big time, when Castiel appears in the motel room he and the Winchesters are.

The first thing Gabriel noticed in his little brother has been his wings, once of a bright blue, now pitch back. The second thing he noticed has been revelation in his eyes, followed by hurt. He taped Castiel's mouth, part because Gabriel knew he would start shouting of abandonment and blaming the Archangel (Castiel isn't really wrong on this after all) and part because he didn't want his "Trickster" cover to fall out. It didn't take much though, because the Winchesters found out anyway.

Some time later (it would have been a couple of hours or just less than one) Castiel walks through the doors of the warehouse and stops in front of Gabriel, extinguishing the flames completely and crossing his arms on his chest.

«Well?» he says after few moments.

«Well what, Cassie?» Gabriel asks, feigning innocence.

«Why did you leave? I needed you Gabriel, I needed you then more than I always had and you just disappeared on me? Not even saying goodbye?» Castiel's voice becomes higher with every question. «Why?» he shouts, «Just... Why?» he finishes, softly.

Gabriel sighs, «I'm sorry, munchkin, but...»

«Don't call me that» Castiel interrupts, «Don't.call me.that. You left me Gabriel, you abandoned me» his voice trembles, like he's about to cry. At the time Gabriel thought it would be a good thing to give Castiel emotions, but now he's not so sure because _right now_ he can't bear the sight of his little brother crying, and all because of him. «You were the closest thing to a father to me»

«I'm sorry, Castiel» he tries again.

«Why did you leave me?» Castiel asks once more.

«I never left you» Castiel scoffs and rolls his eyes. Gabriel continues, «not completely at least. I was always there with you, not physically, but I was following you. Who do you think asked for Raphael to be your tutor at the academy? Who do you think told Father to put you as leader of the mission to save Dean Winchester? It was all me, hidden in plain sight»

«Why didn't you bring me with you?» Castiel asks then, and Gabriel can see in his eyes that he's trying to understand.

«You couldn't leave Heaven back then, I tried to bring you with me, I wanted you to enjoy this Earth as much as I would, but Zachariah told me I couldn't»

Castiel nods, once, and looks down. Gabriel steps closer, tentatively, and raises one hand as to touch Castiel's wings in the ethereal plane, but he thinks better of it and lets his hand fall again at his side.

«Why are your wings black?»

«Hell's flames. I molted since then but they always come out black» Castiel answers simply, not looking up. Gabriel can see he's trying not to cry.

«Oh Cassie» Gabriel says and touches softly Castiel's secondary feathers. He hears Castiel sob and wraps him in his arms. Castiel makes his wings appear in the earthly plane and Gabriel knows it's a silent request to pet them, so he starts doing it, like when Castiel was just a kid. «I'm so sorry» he says and lets Castiel break down, tears falling on his jacket.

«I missed you, Gab» Castiel says. The old nickname brings tears in Gabriel's eyes as well.

«I missed you too, munchkin»


End file.
